[Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

Fri May 1 21:40:07 CDT 2015

A few problem cases don't justify an increase in complexity across the board. "Sensu" should be used when it is actually needed.

Stephen

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 2/5/15, Weakley, Alan <weakley at bio.unc.edu> wrote:

 Subject: RE: [Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited
 To: "Weakley, Alan" <weakley at bio.unc.edu>, "Stephen Thorpe" <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>, "Dilrukshan Wijesinghe" <dpwijesinghe at yahoo.com>, "TAXACOM" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
 Received: Saturday, 2 May, 2015, 2:14 PM

 It might be noted that
 most monographs and most floras (apologies to my
 non-botanical colleagues for my botanical POV; I'd be
 interested to understand how this is the same or different
 in zoology) actually do a poor or even terrible (misleading)
 job of connecting past usage and circumscriptions to modern
 usage and circumscriptions -- in part because of the
 convention of being completely focused on types.

 Example.  Quercus prinus L.
 1753.  For 250 years this name has been variously applied
 to 2 very different and clearly distinct species (very
 different in overall morphology, in habitat, in
 distribution) -- because the minimal type was ambiguous. 
 WHAT did Linnaeus mean???  This has been fought over and
 disagreed about for 254 years but is now resolved by formal
 rejection of the name Quercus prinus L.

 The typical monograph or flora has simply
 decided the issue by their opinion, and recognized 2
 species:  EITHER

 1.
 Quercus prinus (with montana in synonymy) and Quercus
 michauxii, OR
 2. Quercus montana and Quercus
 prinus (with michauxii in synonymy).
 with no
 usage of sec or sensu, and usually with no explanation of
 the issue.  

 This means
 that when one encounters "Quercus prinus Linnaeus"
 in most floras, or on a specimen label or species list, it
 can only mean ambiguously "one or the other". 

 But, if one approaches
 things with a "sec" or "sensu" approach,
 immensely more clarity can be found and floristic treatments
 and specimen IDs based on each can be parsed.  

 Quercus michauxii Nuttall,
 Basket Oak, Swamp Chestnut Oak.  Bottomland forests,
 especially in fertile soils of upper terraces where flooded
 only infrequently and for short periods, upland depression
 ponds, sometimes on moist lower slopes.  Apr; Sep-Oct (of
 the same year).  NJ south to n. peninsular FL and west to
 e. TX and se. OK, north in the interior to s. IL and s.
 IN.  See discussion under Q. montana about the application
 of the name Q. prinus Linnaeus.  [= Q. michauxii -- C, F,
 FNA, G, GW, K, Mo, RAB, Va, W, WH3; = Q. prinus Linnaeus –
 S, name rejected (possibly misapplied, and a source of
 confusion)]

 Quercus montana
 Willdenow, Rock Chestnut Oak.  Xeric forests of ridges and
 slopes, shale barrens, occasionally in mesic situations
 especially where rocky.  Apr; Sep-Nov (of the same year). 
 Primarily Appalachian but broadly distributed in e. North
 America:  s. ME, NY, MI, s. UN, s. IL, and se. MO (Smith
 & Parker 2005) south to c. GA, c. AL, ne. MS (and
 LA?).  The proper application of the Linnaean “Q.
 prinus” has been controversial and unclear, having been
 debated and variously applied for well over a century.  The
 name “Q. prinus” has nomenclatural priority over either
 “Q. montana” or “Q. michauxii”, but it is not clear
 which species was intended; after centuries of uncertainty,
 Whittemore & Nixon (2005) proposed its formal rejection
 and the proposal was formally and unanimously accepted
 (Brummitt 2007).  [= Q. montana -- FNA, K2, Pa, S, Va, W; =
 Q. prinus Linnaeus – C, F, G, K1, RAB, WV, name rejected
 (probably misapplied, and a source of confusion)]

 Strangely helpful and actually
 very simple to pay attention not only to monography and
 typification and rulings in the code, but to "map"
 the names used by past authors explicitly to clarify usage
 over time.

 Alan 

 -----Original
 Message-----
 From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
 On Behalf Of Weakley, Alan
 Sent: Friday, May
 01, 2015 9:38 PM
 To: Stephen Thorpe;
 Dilrukshan Wijesinghe; TAXACOM
 Subject: Re:
 [Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

 I was just hoping (no "dictating"
 going on) for some focus on a topic of importance -- without
 haring off on other topics that have been hashed over
 repeatedly on this forum.  The "decline of
 monography" and "the evil of data
 aggregators" can have and have had their own lengthy
 strings (and I and many others I'm sure have their
 various and largely sympathetic thoughts on these issues). 
 But, both are tangentially related to the topic which I (and
 a number of others) thought was on the table in this
 string:  sec, sensu, precision in connecting an alleged
 identification with a name, "taxonomic concept
 mapping" (clear bounding of the "taxonspace"
 around the type specimen 'flag') and ways to go
 about best delineating that and communicating it to the
 benefit of current and future taxonomists and other users of
 taxonomic information.

 In
 my humble opinion (IMHO) having some discipline about
 staying "on topic" would make this a more
 beneficial forum for all.  But, far from being
 "supreme ruler of the cosmos", I am "but an
 egg".

 ---Original Message-----
 From:
 Stephen Thorpe [mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz]

 Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 8:15 PM
 To: Dilrukshan Wijesinghe; TAXACOM; Weakley,
 Alan
 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Why stability? -
 Revisited

 @Alan Weakley:
 When you become supreme ruler of the cosmos, THEN you can
 dictate what other people can or cannot talk about on
 Taxacom...

 --------------------------------------------
 On Sat, 2/5/15, Weakley, Alan <weakley at bio.unc.edu>
 wrote:

  Subject: Re:
 [Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited
  To:
 "Dilrukshan Wijesinghe" <dpwijesinghe at yahoo.com>,
 "TAXACOM" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
  Received: Saturday, 2 May, 2015, 11:47 AM

  "Aggregators are
 rubbish".
  "Taxonomists are under
 citation pressure" to split their  work into smaller
 articles.

  And I thought
 we were talking about ways to better  communicate best
 taxonomy and unambiguous information about  the individual
 units (based closely on cited underlying

 literature) to the diversity of taxonomy-users (including
  ourselves) across generations.

  -----Original
 Message-----
  From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
  On Behalf Of Dilrukshan Wijesinghe
  Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 7:20 PM
  To: TAXACOM
  Subject: Re:
 [Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

  Rod wrote:
  "I'm not
 denying that this is valuable, but it frustrates me  that
 there is minimal connection to the underlying  literature.
 What I see missing from many checklists, and  aggregators
 as well, is the ability to drill down to the  underlying
 science."
  That's why aggregators
 are rubbish. The idea that there  should be one (or a few)
 sites providing taxonomic  information on all organisms is
 ludicrous, yet this seems to  be the "philosophy"
 that drives the "aggregator industry".
  Every day we use specialized sources for
 information on a  variety of topics that are of importance
 to us. Obviously,  that is not seen as a huge problem; in
 fact, that diversity  and specialization is understood to
 be necessary aspect of  high-quality information.
  Here are some specialized taxonomic websites
 that are vastly  more reliable and useful than any
 aggregator:
  World Spider Catalog
  http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/

  The Goblin Spider Planetary Biodiversity
 Inventory http://research.amnh.org/oonopidae/index.php

  Pseudoscorpions of the
 World
  http://museum.wa.gov.au/catalogues-beta/pseudoscorpions

  Jumping spiders (Arachnida:
 Araneae: Salticidae) of the  world http://www.jumping-spiders.com/index.php

  Catalogue of Pholcidae
  http://www.pholcidae.de/

  Orthoptera Species File
 Online
  http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/HomePage/Orthoptera/HomePage.aspx

  Cercopoidea Organised On
 Line
  http://rameau.snv.jussieu.fr/cool/index.php?⟨=en

  Coreoidea Species File
 Online
  http://coreoidea.speciesfile.org/HomePage/Coreoidea/HomePage.aspx

  World List of Marine,
 Freshwater and Terrestrial Isopod  Crustaceans http://www.marinespecies.org/isopoda/

  Global Taxnomic Daabase of
 Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera) http://www.gracillariidae.net/

  Psocodea Species File
 Online
  http://psocodea.speciesfile.org/HomePage/Psocodea/HomePage.aspx

  Cassidinae of the world - an
 interactive manual (Coleoptera:

 Chrysomelidae) http://culex.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/index.htm

 Priyantha

  D. P.
 Wijesinghe
  dpwijesinghe at yahoo.com

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  Celebrating 28 years of
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  The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
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  Celebrating 28 years of
 Taxacom in 2015.

 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
 Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
 http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
 The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be
 searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org

 Celebrating 28 years of
 Taxacom in 2015.